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CounterPunch
March 5,
2003
What Can the World
Do, If Bush Attacks Iraq?
Uniting for
Peace
By JEREMY BRECHER
If the US attacks Iraq without support of the
UN Security Council, will the world be powerless to stop it?
The answer is no. Under a procedure called "Uniting for
Peace," the UN General Assembly can demand an immediate
ceasefire and withdrawal. The global peace movement should consider
demanding such an action.
When Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal
in 1956, Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt and began
advancing on the Suez Canal. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower
demanded that the invasion stop. Resolutions in the UN Security
Council called for a cease-fire--but Britain and France vetoed
them. Then the United States appealed to the General Assembly
and proposed a resolution calling for a cease-fire and a withdrawal
of forces. The General Assembly held an emergency session and
passed the resolution. Britain and France withdrew from Egypt
within a week.
The appeal to the General Assembly was
made under a procedure called "Uniting for Peace."
This procedure was adopted by the Security Council so that the
UN can act even if the Security Council is stalemated by vetoes.
Resolution 377 provides that, if there is a "threat to
peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression" and the
permanent members of the Security Council do not agree on action,
the General Assembly can meet immediately and recommend collective
measures to U.N. members to "maintain or restore international
peace and security." The "Uniting for Peace"
mechanism has been used ten times, most frequently on the initiative
of the United States.
The Bush Administration is currently
promoting a Security Council resolution that it claims will authorize
it to attack Iraq. However, huge opposition from global public
opinion and most of the world's governments make such a resolution's
passage unlikely.
What will happen if the US withdraws
its resolution or the resolution is defeated? The US is currently
indicating that it will attack Iraq even without Security Council
approval. The US would undoubtedly use its veto should the Security
Council attempt to condemn and halt its aggression. But the
US has no veto in the General Assembly.
Lawyers at the Center
for Constitutional Rights have drafted a proposed "Uniting
for Peace" resolution that governments can submit to the
General Assembly. It declares that military action without a
Security Council resolution authorizing such action is contrary
to the UN Charter and international law.
The global peace movement can begin right
now to discuss the value of such a resolution. If we conclude
it is worthwhile, we can make it a central demand, for example
in the next round of global anti-war demonstrations. Then we
can mobilize pressure on governments that claim to oppose the
war -- the great majority of UN members -- to demand that they
initiate and support such a resolution.
Countries opposed to such a war can be
asked to state now that, if there is a Security Council deadlock
and a US attack on Iraq is imminent or under way, they will convene
the General Assembly on an emergency basis to condemn the attack
and order the US to cease fire and withdraw.
The sooner global public discussion begins
laying the groundwork for such action the better. Wide public
advocacy will help governments overcome their probable reluctance
to take such a step. Further, the threat of such global condemnation
may help deter the Bush administration--and to a much greater
extent deter its wobbling allies--from launching such an attack
in the first place.
Jeremy Brecher
is a historian and the author of twelve books including STRIKE!
and GLOBALIZATION
FROM BELOW. He can be reached at: jbrecher@igc.org.
Information on Uniting for Peace based on "A
U.N. Alternative to War: 'Uniting for Peace" by
Michael Ratner, Center for Constitutional Rights and Jules Lobel,
University of Pittsburgh Law School.
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